International Space Station crew members currently forced to wait for resupply vehicles to arrive with essential items could soon benefit from the arrival of a new 3D printer later this year, NASA officials announced on Tuesday.

NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) -- the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars.

As progress continues on NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, the solid rocket boosters team successfully completed its critical design review Aug. 6. This is an important milestone for the program, as it verifies the boosters are ready to move forward with qualification testing.

Space exploration is the exploration and discovery of outer space by use of space technology and is conducted by both robotic spacecraft and humans. Astronomy, which is the viewing of objects in space from Earth, is thought to predate recorded history, but it was the inspiration to modern space exploration. Humans explore space for many reasons including the survival of humankind if Earth cannot sustain life, uniting nations, and scientific research.
Physical space exploration began in...

Roger Crouch is an American scientist and a NASA astronaut. He was born Roger Keith Crouch on September 12, 1940 in Jamestown, Tennessee. Crouch grew up participating in the Eagle Scouts of America and went to high school at the Alvin C. York Institute. He then went to attend Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1962. That same year he became a group leader and researcher at the NASA Langley Research Center, where he stayed until 1985. With his...

Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 12 at 7:30 AM EST and landed at Kennedy on November 20, 1995 at 12:01 PM EST. The shuttle orbited 129 times at an altitude of 213 nautical miles at an inclination of 51.6 degrees and travelled 3.4 million miles. The mission lasted 8 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes, and 44 seconds.
STS-74 marked the second docking of a U.S. Space Shuttle to the Russian Space Station Mir, continuing Phase I activities leading to construction of International...

Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center on October 18, 19993 at 110:53 AM EDT and landed at Edwards AFB on November 1 at 7:05 AM PDT. The shuttle orbited 225 times at an altitude of 155 nautical miles at an inclination of 155 nautical miles and travelled 5.8 million miles. The mission lasted 14 days, 0 hours, 12 minutes, and 32 seconds.
This was a Spacelab mission and the longest shuttle mission to date. Shannon Lucid accumulated the most hours for a female astronaut at 838. The...

Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center on January 13, 1993 at 8:59 AM EST and landed at Kennedy on January 19 at 8:37 AM EST. The shuttle orbited 96 times at an altitude of 165 nautical miles at an inclination of 28.45 degrees. The mission lasted 5 days, 23 hours, 38 minutes, and 19 seconds.
The primary payload was the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F) which was deployed on day one of the mission. It was later successfully transferred to its proper orbit by the...

A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.